As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
Information handling systems operate from power sources, whether AC line voltage sources or a battery. The power consumed by an information handling system varies with the load placed on its computational resources. For example, a processor encoding high definition video consumes more power than a processor formatting a web page for display. Power sources may have limits to how much energy can be provided. That is, a power source usually cannot provide all of its stored energy instantaneously and instead only supplies a limited amount over time. The limit can vary based on the amount of time that the power is consumed at that level. In one example, a power supply may be capable of supplying 6 Amps for long durations of time, but be capable of supplying 8 Amps for short durations of time. When the short duration at the higher supply current is exceeded, the information handling system reduces power consumption to a smaller current level to reduce risk of overheating or fire. Conventionally, the information handing system steps down its operating parameters, such as processor frequency, until a desired lower current draw is obtained. An example of this operation is shown in FIG. 1.
FIG. 1 is a graph illustrating conventional power limiting. Graph 100 illustrates an initial current draw level 112 at 6 Amps. At time 102, the current draw increase to level 114 at 9 Amps. Power consumption may be allowed at this level for time duration 122. At time 104, the power draw begins to ramp down from level 114 to level 116 over time duration 124. At time 106 the current draw is limited to 7 Amps. However, decreasing the current draw can be unpredictable because current consumption is not a value that can be adjusted. Rather, limiting current draw is performed by controlling other parameters of an information handling system. For example, processor frequency can be decreased, and then decreased further, until the current draw reaches level 116. Decreasing from level 114 to level 116 conventionally involves applying a series of changes to operating parameters during time period 124 in a stair-step fashion until the level 116 is reached. This is inefficient because the time period 124 required to reduce power consumption can be a large percentage of a time period 126 that the power consumption is allowed to be above level 116. The longer the information handling system is allowed to operate at the level 114 the more computations the system can perform. The searching process of finding the parameters for the system to obtain level 116 shortens the amount of time that could otherwise be spent at level 114 from a possible time period 126 down to an actual time period 122.